The inauguration of Donald J. Trump will produce a number of protests before and after he is sworn-in as president of the United States.
On Jan. 14, the National Action Network (NAN) will lead minority, civil, human, and women’s rights groups in a protest over Trump’s policies on economic inequality, his plan to dismantle the Obama agenda, and on his actions to curb the rights of citizens of color and others who are disadvantaged. Sharpton, in a statement, said he chose to hold his demonstration on the weekend of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday “to honor the legacy of King and to set the tone for the inauguration.”
E. Faye Williams will participate in National Action Network and Women’s marches. (Courtesy Photo)
“We will not allow Martin Luther King’s dream and Obama’s legacy be rolled back without a fierce fight,” Sharpton said.
The NAN march, called the “We Shall Not Be Moved March,” will start at 9 a.m. at the National Sylvan Theater, 15th Street. N.W. and Independence Avenue, S.W. From there, the march will proceed to the King Memorial where a protest will take place with speakers from various organizations as well as political figures and civil rights leaders. At noon, there will be a march around the waterfront in the vicinity of the National Mall.
One of the participants in the NAN march will be E. Faye Williams, president and CEO of the National Congress of Black Women. Williams told the AFRO she will be one of the speakers. “I will be saying that we will not go back,” Williams said. “We have a president-elect that will take us back to before the civil rights movement. We must not allow people to say ‘oh well, that’s the way it is’ and we will demonstrate to say we will not go back.”
The Answer Coalition, a progressive movement active in the Washington, D.C. area, will be protesting the Trump inauguration on Jan. 20, Eugene Puryear, a leading organizer, told the AFRO. “We will gather at 7 a.m. at 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue., N.W.,” Puryear said. “We will enter the checkpoint there and march to the Navy Memorial where we will have a stage and a sound system for the whole day.”
Puryear said that a 9 a.m. rally is scheduled to take place and there will be activity going on when Trump takes the oath of office at noon on Jan. 20. He said as the new president and first lady march from the U.S. Capitol to the White House via Pennsylvania Avenue, there will be demonstrators among the parade route. “We will brave the cold to protest Donald Trump,” he said. “We will march with him in the crowd up and down Pennsylvania Avenue during the parade calling attention to his unfair policies.”
Puryear said he is expecting several thousand people to join the Answer Coalition protest but noted the organization has received 20,000 online RSVPs. He said the Answer Coalition isn’t new to protesting a president that they disagree with. In 2005, he noted, the Answer Coalition had 15,000 demonstrators protesting President George W. Bush’s War in Iraq.
At 10 a.m. on Jan. 21, there will be a Women’s March on Washington at the U.S. Capitol. The march’s theme is “In Solidarity and the Spirit of Democracy, For Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and To Protect Our Rights.”
Tamika D. Mallory, a New York City political and social activist, is serving as one of the national co-chairs along with Carmen Perez, a Latina civil rights activist; Linda Sarsour, a Muslim female leader; and Bob Bland, who jump started the march via social media.
On Nov. 21, 2016, an official statement was released from the national committee on why the march will take place. “In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore,” the statement said. “The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new administration, Congress, Senate, state, and local governments on their first day in office and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”
Locations of Upcoming Trump Protests
Jan. 14
NAN We Shall Not be Moved
9 a.m. National Sylvan Theater
Jan. 20
Answer Coalition Inauguration Protest
7 a.m. 14th and Penn. Ave.
Jan. 21
Women’s March on Washington
10 a.m. U.S. Capitol